Best posts made by redrum

So one of the major challenges for new map makers is creating unit sets in all the colors that they need. I decided to test some things out around being able to take a base gray scale image (think Germany's base units) and specifying a color or hue/saturation/brightness then having TripleA apply it. Interesting if folks think this could be useful?

So here is an example of turning Germany's revised units red or more specifically applying hue=0 (red) and saturation=100 (full saturation):

Here is a brown-gray (close to revised UK color) with hue=40 and saturation=40:

Overview

Add ability for engine to colorize images. This will take a color code (only apply its hue and saturation) and an optional brightness value (apply all 3 values, increasing brightness is often not ideal so kind of an advanced use at your own risk). It also ignores any pixels that are close to black (brightness < 10%) as especially if increasing brightness these get faded and make images look less sharp.

Add ability to flip colorized unit images

Add ability to place unit images in unit folder directly which are then shared across all nations (it will first check for an image in the nation folder and if not found then check the unit folder and then check the images included with TripleA). This will allow flexibility if not all units can be shared or aren't monocolored.

Add new properties to map.properties:

A color and brightness value - apply to unit images for each nation (this will be applied to ALL units of that nation unless exempt). This will allow map makers to potentially use a single set of unit images and specify colors for each nation. Also allow users to override the default unit image color just like they can for territory colors.

Flip unit - flip colorized unit images for each nation (this will be applied to ALL units of that nation unless exempt)

A list of units exempt from transformation - this could include things like factories that are the same color for all nations or units that were already colorized by hand for each nation like AA radar or damaged battleships

Properties Description

# Unit transform settings (apply effects similar to colorize functions of image editing tools)
#units.transform.color.<player> applies the given color's hue and saturation to the player's units
#units.transform.color.Russians=00BBBB
#units.transform.brightness.<player> allows the brightness (-100 to 100) to be adjusted when above unit color is set
#units.transform.brightness.Russians=25
#units.transform.flip.<player> flips the player's units horizontally
#units.transform.flip.Russians=true
#units.transform.ignore provides a comma delimited list of units that aren't impacted by the above units.transform properties
#units.transform.ignore=factory,fighter

The purpose of this guide is to provide basic strategy for each nation and cover some of the advanced features of TWW. This guide is primarily geared towards beginners to help them get up to speed and become solid TWW players. It isn't intended to cover advanced strategies but provide a solid foundation for you to develop your own strategies.

Standard Settings
-- Politics off or Declare War Only
-- Technology on and National Tech Adv on
-- Shared technology off
-- LL, though map also plays well with dice

Nations
The following provides a brief overview of each major nation and they are listed in order that they go each round. One thing to note is that some of the major nations (especially the UK) have minor nations where production can only be used by each minor nation but all of the units of the major and its minor nations move/battle together.

Germany ( Vichy France, Danube Axis, Finland)Difficulty: Medium
Germany starts with a large army and air force that has advanced through Poland to be within striking distance of Russia's 3 main cities on the Eastern Front (Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad) but has been halted due to a harsh winter. Germany's goals are fairly straightforward in that it needs to cripple Russia while preventing the Allies from establishing a beachhead in western Europe. Germany needs to push every possible unit that it can to the Eastern Front to pressure Russia into falling back into its cities and then divide and conquer them. Stalingrad in particular is one of the most important areas on the map and being able to capture and hold it often leads to an Axis victory.

Objectives
-- Early game - Germany has limited options turn 1 with the harsh winter effect blocking all movement along the Eastern Front. Most of its action will be using its naval forces in the Atlantic to weaken the Allies. Try to take out hulls and transports with your subs to slow the Allies down. Consider strafing the UK hull in the North Sea and retreat to the Northern Germany coast so you can defend your navy with your air scrambles and save your battleship. Remember to use your North African forces to conquer Tobruk. Look to consolidate your western Europe defenses to Northern France and Northern Germany while moving as many units as possible towards the Eastern Front. In the following turns, you want to focus on trying to pressure Stalingrad with as many units as possible through trying to push Russia back from Smolensk and Voronezh. Look to keep pressure on Leningrad with your forces in Finland and look for opportunities to capture it if Russia leaves it too lightly defended.
-- Mid game - At this stage, you should be able to either conquer Leningrad or Stalingrad and if given the choice then definitely choose Stalingrad as it opens up much more potential Russian lands to capture. Try to drive down into Caucasus and the Middle East if the opportunity presents itself as it helps pick up some production as well as pressure the interior of the Allied territory. Keep an eye on the UK forces in the North Sea while continuing to fortify Northern France and Northern Germany to prevent a beachhead. Don't forget to continue to harass the Allies with any remaining subs in the Atlantic and coordinate with the Italians in North Africa.
-- Late game - Hopefully, both Leningrad and Stalingrad fall which allows you to pressure Moscow and Urals as well as drive into the heart of Russia to capture most of its territory and look to starve the Russians out of income. You might need to back off some in either France or Scandinavia if the Allies are pushing hard but just try to avoid losing Paris, Northern Germany, and Finland. Once you have a strangle hold on the Russians then you can refocus more of your production towards pushing back on the British.

Production
-- Units - Look to upgrade your hull to a battleship and if you moved your existing battleship to SZ25 then make sure you have enough units to defend it. After round 1, build mostly land units but a pretty good variety of them. You'll need infantry across the board especially along the Atlantic Wall. For the Eastern Front, a combination of mech infantry, tanks, infantry, and artillery tends to be key. You also can look to invest in a few additional air units such as tact bombers, fighters, and naval fighters but try to focus most of your income into land units as they are more cost effective.
-- Materials - Build at least 1 research center turn 1 and try use the other materials to either build a factory/barracks closer to the Eastern Front or just move the materials into position so you can do that turn 2. Look to use your air transports and trains primarily to transport materials up to the Eastern Front. Germany tends to need to build around 2-3 materials per turn in order to build factories/barracks/airbases along the Eastern Front. Its also good to try to build a barracks in Paris to churn out infantry for the Atlantic Wall and another research center to max out research.
-- Vichy France - Look to build infantry, materials, and fighters in that order. Your main duty is to help fortify Northern France.
-- Danube Axis - Build infantry. Your barracks is relatively close to the Eastern Front where you badly need more fodder units. You can look to weave in a material here and there if needed.
-- Finland - Infantry and artillery. You just need to build up a stack to pressure Leningrad.

Technologies
-- Priorities: Improved Fighters, Increased Fighter Range, Improved Tanks, Improved Artillery, Logistics, Production, Improved Anti-Air
-- Primarily want to focus on improving your air/land units with research to maximize pressure on Russia. If you are struggling to get all your troops up to the Eastern Front quickly then grab Logistics to add extra movement to trucks and trains. Production can help generate some free extra materials. If the Allies look to pursue a strategic bombing campaign then consider grabbing Improved Anti-Air and building a few additional AA guns.

RussiaDifficulty: Medium
Russia finds itself starting in a pretty difficult position sandwiched between Germany and Japan. They tend to be slightly outnumbered on both fronts so need to pick their battles carefully. The key for Russia tends to be holding out long enough for the UK and USA to pressure the Axis powers so they have to divert units away from Russia. Russia has a solid base income and as long as it can hold most of its territory can pump out a good deal of units to slow Axis expansion. Russia has just a small navy and primarily will focus on land units with a moderate sized air force. The Eastern Front is very wide so Russia needs to be proactive about holding territories up far enough that prevent Germany from dividing and conquering its 3 major cities (Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad). If Russia gets pushed back or plays too defensively forcing it to huddle in its 3 cities then Germany will be able to focus all its forces on 1 at a time to capture them and cripple the motherland.

Objectives
-- Early game - On the Eastern Front, Russia gets to start off on the offensive since Germany is halted due to the brutal winter. Look to hit Germany's exposed forces hard while avoiding leaving too many of your forces open to counterattack. Usually selecting some combination of Novgorod, Smolensk, Eastern Ukraine, Pskov, and Orel Kursk is the best approach. As you decide which to attack, think about which ones you'll be able to hold against a German counterattack and consider strafing instead of capturing some of them to avoid leaving lots of units exposed. Make sure to position your fighters where they are safe but can scramble to as many exposed territories as possible to make it difficult for Germany to trade territories. Look to use your small Baltic fleet to harass Germany or just sneak the sub out to the North Sea to support the UK. In the following turns, its best to consolidate most of your forces in either Smolensk or Voronezh if you are able to hold them to keep pressure off of Moscow and Stalingrad while leaving enough units in the north to hold Leningrad. One important thing to watch out for is the few Italian forces which can be used to conquer lightly defended territories and then have Germany move its tanks and mech infantry through to strike territories behind your initial defense line (aka. can openers). In the Pacific Threater, the safest approach is to withdraw your troops from Vladivostok and look to fortify Yakut as it as good defensive terrain and protects Irkutsk. If you can afford to, L&L some artillery and AT guns to China through Altay as every extra Chinese unit can make a major impact in its mountainous terrain.
-- Mid game - At this point on the Eastern Front, the Germans usually will have enough forces that Russia will be forced to make some tough decisions as it is pushed back and can't hold everything. Generally, its best to prioritize holding the south (Stalingrad) over north (Leningrad) as Stalingrad protects a lot more of the Russian heartland and income. In the Pacific theater, it really depends whether Japan has chosen to focus on Russia to what the situation looks like. Continue to try to hold Yakut if possible but be prepared to slowly retreat if it can't be held.
-- Late game - Hopefully at this point, the Allies are pressuring Germany and Japan so that the Russian fronts have stabilized. The most important thing for Russia is still to protect its heartland to keep its income up. Determine where the main threats are and focus streaming forces there. Don't forget about China as if they begin crumbling you'll need to consider trying to form a defensive position around Novosibirsk. In most games, as long as you can hold the core area of Moscow, Stalingrad, Urals, and Novosibirsk then you'll have enough income and production facilities to hold off the Axis advances in order for your Allies to eventually help turn the tide so you can march on Berlin!

Production
-- Units - Focus on primarily land units and priority order is infantry, artillery, mech infantry, and tanks. At least half of your purchase should usually be infantry to replace casualties and since its the most cost effective fodder/defensive unit. Don't be afraid to build a few offensive and mobile units though to allow Russia to keep some counterattack pressure on Germany as they advance. A few extra fighters can come in handy for scrambling but its best to try to primarily just use your starting air force as fighters are expensive.
-- Materials - Build a research center turn 1 (usually Moscow or Stalingrad). Use the rest of the materials to build entrenchments/fortifications and possibly an airfield or 2 if needed to help with scramble defenses. There shouldn't be much need to build additional production facilities as you start with a lot. You can consider building another research center if you can spare the materials but its not a necessity. Don't buy very many additional materials for entrenchments/fortifications as infantry tend to be a better investment since they help apply counterattack pressure and are mobile. You'll usually get Production technology early which can let you build a few more entrenchments/fortifications that you need.

Technologies
-- Priorities: Production, Improved Def Structures, Improved Tanks, Improved Artillery, Improved Fighters, Improved Anti-Air
-- Primarily want to focus on defensive techs and those that improve your existing land units. Production is usually the best tech to start with to provide a steady material income for some additional entrenchments/fortifications. The rest depend on what units you are producing and have in the field. If Germany happens to go for lots of strategic bombers or is building lots of additional air forces then you may need to upgrade and build a few additional AA guns.

Japan ( Manchuria, Thailand)Difficulty: Hard
Japan starts with a powerful fleet and air force ready to expand its borders and dominate the Pacific Theater. Japan is one of the most flexible nations as after initially conquering the Philippines and some of the East Indies it can choose to focus on expanding in various directions including China, Russia, India, and Australia. The following will primarily focus on putting most of Japan's resources into taking out China first as that tends to be the most common and straightforward strategy. Making significant progress against 1 or more of those 4 areas tend to be key to allowing Japan to gain enough income and lead the Axis to victory.

Objectives
-- Early game - Japan has the most aggressive turn 1 as they usually look to attack around 10-15 territories to take out some Allied forces and begin growing their income base. One good thing is that you can create a few standard openings to reuse since Germany/Russia don't have much impact on Japan. Some of the key territories to consider attacking are: SZ115, SZ148, SZ127, Luzon, Burma, Borneo/Brunei, a handful of Chinese territories, and possibly a few Russian territories depending on their opening. Make sure to utilize as much of your air force as possible as its key to maximizing your attack power. Capturing and holding Burma for most of the game is essential given its defense bonuses. If Russia chooses to try to defend Vladivostok, its usually best to ignore it early game and send most of your troops toward China or Irkutsk. Just make sure to keep enough counterattack pressure on Eastern Manchuria so Russia doesn't advance towards Manchuria or Korea. In the following turns, you'll need to look to conquer the rest of the Philippines, a portion of the East Indies, Hong Kong, and another handful of Chinese territories. Since the primary objective after our opening is China, move as many units as possible towards Northern China and Chungking. Ideally, you want to be able to stack your forces in Inner Mongolia to pressure both Northern China and Hupeh. Look for opportunities to trade units with China as you have a lot more income and a much larger air force.
-- Mid game - Japan should be able to capture either Northern China or Chungking depending on what China decides to defend. Most likely they'll concede Northern China which opens up the option to just pin down the Chungking troops and pour units into the rest of China to begin starving them out and potentially even pressure Singkiang. Just be careful not to leave your any large stacks of troops exposed but because of the mountainous defense bonuses, its key to avoid focusing too much of your forces on capturing well defended territories if you have the option to march past them. With your navy you have 2 main objectives, keep enough defending around Japan/Philippines to prevent the Allied fleets advancing while using any remaining ships to capture more territories in the East Indies and then either India or Australia. Keep an eye on the USA and where they are focusing their production as well as the positioning of their Pacific naval forces in order to properly counter them. Ideally, between Japan and its minor allies, you'll get to over 100 PU income per turn.
-- Late game - At this stage, hopefully China is collapsing and your forces can drive into Central Russia. If the USA is focusing mostly on a Pacific strategy then you'll probably need to spend most of your income on defending against them. If not then you can look to potentially advance in Eastern Russia, India, or Australia.

Production
-- Units - Japan needs to focus on air/naval units to control the Pacific and land units for conquering China. They start with a strong carrier force which needs some additional screen ships as well as ensuring they are filled with naval fighters. So focus purchases on destroyers, subs, and naval fighters as well as a few additional transports. For China, its best to focus on units that fight well in rough terrain so alpines, infantry, and artillery with a few mech infantry and tanks for mobility.
-- Materials - Build 1 research center on turn 1 (usually in Korea). Japan needs to build 2-4 materials per turn for barracks/factories/airports as they advance into China as they don't start with very many production facilities and most of them are in Japan. Its best to use air transports to move them into China or possibly trains from Korea. Some good territories to look to build barracks/factories are Shensi, Hupeh, Northern China, Shanghai, and Shansi. Try to eventually build another research center as well to maximize research.
-- Manchuria - Build infantry and artillery to use against China and Russia. Can build materials if necessary.
-- Thailand - Build infantry and artillery to use against China and UK. Can build materials if necessary.

Technologies
-- Priorities: Special Warfare, Improved Fighters, Increased Fighter Range, Logistics, Production
-- Initially, Japan needs special warfare so they can amphibious assault with all types of infantry. Increased Fighter Range is usually the next priority given Japan's large air force and need to cover many different areas. Logistics is very powerful as it provides carriers the ability to scramble fighters. Production is useful to help generate some free materials that Japan needs to expand.

ChinaDifficulty: Very Easy
China is the easiest nation to play as it's the smallest, has no naval forces, has minimal air force, and all of its territories/units are consolidated in 1 area. China primarily needs to focus on defending against Japan and hold as much of its core territories as possible while utilizing its mountainous terrain for defensive bonuses.

Objectives
-- Early game - Slowly retreat into the mountains and try to avoid trading units 1-for-1 with Japan as you need to get more value out of each unit by utilizing the terrain to improve their defensive rolls and Japan has vastly superior air forces for trading territories. If Japan moves forward too quickly and leaves some of its forces exposed then don't be afraid to attack but consider strafing to avoid leaving your defensive positions. Watch out for the Japanese air force positioning as it can often take China by surprise and if necessary its often better to slowly retreat then lose major portions of your army. The best territories to try to consolidate your forces to and defend are Hupeh and Northern China but be prepared to fall back a bit further.
-- Mid game - China needs to keep as many of its starting production facilities as possible so it can continue to churn out defensive units. If you lose too many production facilities then you won't have enough production to place units that you can buy. Most likely you'll have to give up Northern China at this stage but try to hold both of your capitals.
-- Late game - At this stage, it depends how things have panned out and how much Japan has focused its troops on China. Often times, you are just struggling to hold 1 of your capitals to survive. But sometimes if Japan has focused in other areas or made mistakes then you could be in a position where you are starting to out number them and can advance cautiously to take back much of the territory you've lost.

Production
-- Units - Alpine, infantry, and artillery as they are good bang for the buck both offensively and defensively and do well in mountainous terrain. If Japan focuses on strategic bombing then you may need a few AA guns.
-- Materials - Usually not worth purchasing many materials but use any you have to build entrenchments and fortifications in mountainous positions that you can defend.

UK ( Canada, Egypt, South Africa, India, Australia, Exiled Allies)Difficulty: Very Hard
The UK and its minors start as the most powerful empire in the game from both a starting forces and income perspective. They are most likely the hardest to play though as they are spread all across the globe and in many areas are out numbered by Axis forces. They'll need to make some tough choices on which theaters to focus on and try to consolidate their forces in order to hold on to as much territory as possible and mount counter offensives. Some of the most strategic areas to focus on are Egypt, the Middle East, India, and southeast Asia. The following will focus on a relatively balanced approach with the main focus of trying to hold Egypt as long as possible.

Objectives
-- Early game - Unless Germany or Japan leave forces exposed, the UK generally has very few areas to attack on turn 1 but make sure you look the map over closely. Check if you can attack Germany's fleet in the North Sea or if they left anything in France or Norway exposed for you to safely capture or strat bomb. You main goal of turn one is to consolidate your forces and position them as aggressively as possible without them being exposed. In the North Sea, usually its best to consolidate your navy to either SZ24 or SZ10 but if its safe consider even more aggressive positions. Watch out for Germany's subs and once you get Improved Destroyers look to eliminate them. You'll need to decide where to focus your air forces and the most standard opening is moving most of them towards Egypt through Gibraltar and Malta. In Egypt, consolidate your forces to Western Egypt and navy to SZ53 as these 2 territories are extremely important to slow Italy down early in the game. Remember to move your forces in the rest of Africa as well with a few going towards West Africa to capture Vichy French territories and the rest towards Egypt. In India, send most of your forces towards Bengal and any extras towards Egypt. Its usually best to move your fighter to the Chinese L&L in Eastern Szechwan as they really benefit from a second fighter. In the South Pacific, try to consolidate your naval forces to SZ163 or SZ152 using your air forces for scramble protection. Over the next few turns try to gain naval superiority in the North Sea to apply pressure to the German coasts, consolidate as many units around Egypt as possible to hold Western Egypt and SZ53, ensure you have enough units to hold Bengal, and begin building up a fleet in the South Pacific.
-- Mid game - When playing a balanced UK approach the key is to be flexible and take advantage of what the Axis give you. In the North Sea, hopefully you've gained naval superiority and can establish a beachhead in either Norway or France though even if you can't as long as you are putting lots of pressure on the German coasts and forcing them to spend lots of resources to defend it then it can still be considered a success. In Egypt, continue to hold Western Egypt and SZ53 and as long as possible but if necessary fall back to Cairo while continuing to move more and more of your forces to Egypt. In India and the South Pacific, keep an eye on Japan's fleet/transports to ensure they can't invade India or Australia. Continue to hold Bengal and build up a South Pacific fleet to counter Japan's. At this point, you'll usually have lost most of the East Indies but hold any of them that you can.
-- Late game - At this stage, the USA should be fairly involved and helping to turn the tide. Coordinate with their forces in both the Atlantic and Pacific to pressure the Axis powers. The keys tend to be applying enough pressure on Germany to allow Russia to hold Stalingrad/Moscow, applying enough pressure on Japan to allow China to hold out and curb Japanese expansion, and preventing the Italians from capturing Cairo. If you're able to accomplish those tasks then you generally out produce the Axis and eventually overwhelm them.

Production
-- Units - The UK primarily needs to focus on air and naval units initially then transition to transports and infantry. On turn 1, considering building subs in the sea zones around Hong Kong if Japan doesn't have very many destroyers. In the North Sea, look to build mostly naval fighters, subs, and destroyers to gain naval superiority then begin building transports ensuring you have enough units to fill them.
-- Materials - Build a research center on turn 1 (usually in London). Build an aircraft plant in Quebec. Consider building entrenchments in Western Egypt and Bengal. Look to build another research center in Britain turn 2 or 3. You'll most likely need to buy 1-2 materials per turn in Britain for most of the game for additional facilities and airports especially as you look to establish a beachhead. Look to build a barracks or factory in the Belgian Congo by mid game.
-- Canada - Build Naval Fighters and Tactical Bombers to move to Britain or Gibraltar. Can use remaining resources on subs, destroyers, and transports.
-- Egypt - Build either destroyers and subs to hold SZ53 or infantry to hold Western Egypt and Cairo.
-- South Africa - Build either subs or fast moving land units (mech infantry, tanks, trucks) to move towards Egypt.
-- India - Build infantry to move towards Bengal and Egypt. Can build subs and destroyers if needed as well.
-- Australia - Upgrade your hull to a battleship. Build mostly subs, destroyers, and naval fighters to pressure Japan in the South Pacific. Can also build air transports to move materials around.
-- Exiled Allies - As the Allies recapture territory, your income will increase so you'll need additional production facilities usually in Africa, Norway, or East Indies. Try to plan ahead to spend as much of your income as possible each turn.

Technologies
-- Priorities: Improved Destroyers, Special Warfare, Improved Fighters, Increased Fighter Range, Logistics, Production
-- Usually you need Improved Destroyers to help clear the Atlantic of Axis subs and protect your fleets against enemy subs. Special Warfare is essentially to allow non-marine infantry types to amphibious assault so you can pressure Germany and potentially other areas around the globe. After that looking to improve your large air force and provide them with more range is usually the best bet. Logistics is great for additional truck/train movement in Africa/India/Middle East and so carriers can scramble. Production helps minimize needing to spend resources and production slots on materials in Britain.

ItalyDifficulty: Easy
Italy is one of the smaller nations but has a well balanced military (land, naval, and air) as well as having forces spread through the Med, eastern Europe, and the Atlantic. Italy primarily needs to look to control the Med in order to expand in North Africa and look to capture Cairo. Cairo and the surrounding area is one of the most strategic locations on the map given its centralized position as a gateway to Africa and the Middle East where there is a lot of lightly defended Allied territories that can really boost Italy's income. Secondarily, it has some land forces along the Eastern Front that can be used to punch holes in the Russian defenses to allow Germany to stream through.

Objectives
-- Early game - Move as many units towards Western Egypt and the eastern Med as possible. The goal is to try to push the UK land forces out of Western Egypt and push the UK naval forces out of the Med through the Suez canal. It depends how many resources that the UK spends on the Med theater on how hard Italy can push and whether they need to focus primarily on land or naval/air forces. Crete can be a good place to station most of your air force so it can pressure both land and sea territories in the eastern Med just make sure the UK can't wipe out your forces there. Make sure to push land units in eastern Europe towards the Eastern Front (make sure to use your train) and coordinate with Germany on if/when to attack. Finally don't forget about the couple of subs that you have in the Atlantic and look to use these to harass Allied ships to slow them down.
-- Mid game - The hope at this stage is that Italy is pushing the UK out of the Med and building up forces in Western Egypt to capture Cairo. Look for opportunities to land some troops in the Middle East if the UK navy is pushed out of the Med. If the UK is moving air forces into the Med through Gibraltar then consider trying to capture Malta to prevent them from reaching Egypt. Keep an eye on the Atlantic to see if the UK/US are building up to pressure the western Med. If you've lost most of your troops along the Eastern Front and Germany is struggling to break through then consider using your train to send some reinforcements.
-- Late game - At this point, it really depends on whether the US/UK are pressuring the western Med and if you've either captured Cairo and are in a position to do so soon. If the Allies are pressuring the western Med then you'll need to most likely focus most of your resources on building up your naval/air forces to prevent them from controlling the Med then landing in Italy or Southern France. If they aren't then continue to pressure Cairo with everything you can and if it falls stream into Africa and the Middle East.

Production
-- Units - Initially cost effective naval and air forces (upgrade initial hull to battleship then subs, destroyers, naval fighters) to push the UK fleet out of the Med then focus on transports and infantry/marines to pressure Egypt.
-- Materials - Build a research center turn 1 and consider eventually building another research center in the first few rounds. Try to build a barracks in Southern Italy so you can easily transport more infantry to North Africa. Eventually, you can consider building barracks/factories in Sicily and Tripolitania if things go well.

Technologies
-- Priorities - Production, Special Warfare, Improved Destroyers (if Allies have subs in the Med), Improved Production
-- You don't have much income so the Production techs provide some needed materials/PUs. Besides that, Special Warfare let's you amphibious assault with all infantry and improves specialized infantry types. After those techs, it really depends what units you plan to focus on and how the war in the Med is going.

USADifficulty: Easy
USA is one of the most flexible nations to play as its much more isolated than all the other nations. USA can either focus all in the Atlantic, all in the Pacific, or have a more balanced approach. The following will focus primarily on a balanced approach as this is the easiest and most straightforward strategy. For a balanced approach, primarily the USA needs to pressure Japan in the Pacific to curb its expansion and look to invade North Africa while trying to gain dominance in the Med. USA looks to mostly focus on naval forces through carrier-centric fleets due to their flexibility with destroyers and subs as screens (fodder).

Objectives
-- Early game - In the Pacific, look to clean up any Japanese units that are left exposed after its attack on Pearl Harbor and consolidate the Pacific navy around Hawaii or one of the sea zones south of Hawaii. You want to push your navy as far forward as possible to pressure Japan but ensure they can't wipe it out especially with its large number of naval fighters. After consolidating, if you can safely, look to push further forward to land at Wake, Marshall, or Caroline Islands. In the Atlantic, consolidate your naval forces to avoid further loses to Axis subs and once strong enough look to move an invasion fleet safely towards North Africa. Once you have researched Improved Destroyers, then look to coordinate with the UK to eliminate Axis subs in the Atlantic. Try to always L&L a plane to the UK in Labrador each turn (preferably naval fighters).
-- Mid game - In the Pacific, continue to pressure Japan with your fleet and use materials to build a factory in LA to allow production of capital ships. Use remaining materials to try to begin building production facilities on Hawaii as well as Wake or Caroline Islands if you can defend them. Look to coordinate with the UK fleet in the south Pacific by stacking the same territory for additional defense power and use the UK to remove any Japanese blocker ships or weaken Japanese fleet to allow the USA to attack. In the Atlantic, invade North Africa through Morocco or Algeria and try to build up enough naval forces to be able to safely move your fleet into the Med to pressure Italy.
-- Late game - In the Pacific, continuing pressuring Japan and if you outnumber them then look to invade the Philippines or other islands in the East Indies. In the Atlantic, try to control the Med and eliminate Italy's fleet. Look for opportunities to invade southern France or even Italy with your North African forces.

Production
-- Units - First turn, upgrade the hull to a carrier, build a few naval fighters to fill up your carriers as well as L&L to UK, and spend the rest on destroyers/subs as fodder for your capital ships. As the game progresses, add in some transports ensuring you have infantry/marines to fill them and additional carriers to the mix of naval fighters, destroyers, and subs.
-- Materials - First turn, build 2 research centers (preferably in NY and LA). You start with Production technology so don't need to build too many additional materials. Use the free materials mostly in the Pacific as most captured territories in the Atlantic go to the UK. If transporting materials with trains/transports becomes difficult then consider purchasing some air transports to move materials to Pacific islands.

Technologies
-- Priorities - Improved Destroyers, Special Warfare, Improved Fighters, Increased Fighter Range, Logistics
-- Usually you need Improved Destroyers to help clear the Atlantic of Axis subs and protect your fleets against enemy subs. Special Warfare is essentially to allow non-marine infantry types to amphibious assault as you begin invasions. After that looking to improve your carrier-centric fleets so upgrading naval fighters stats and allowing carriers to act as airbases is usually best.

@hepps Open to discussion. I come back and think about this every so often. I'm waiting til we are working towards an incompatible release to address this as it'll probably break stuff. There are a bunch of issues with subs/destroyers and I think I'm going to break it into 3 parts:

Allowing the existing system to work for land/air units

Breaking isSub and isDestroyer into smaller attributes so more fine grained control can be achieved (canHide, firstStrike, canTarget, canBeTargetedBy, etc)

But I want to give the community a chance to vote on what they feel are their top 3 priorities. They can be from the existing list or completely new ideas. If you'd like to vote then please post a single reply to this thread with 1-3 features/changes that you'd like to see prioritized. Please keep the posts concise and for more detail start a separate thread to discuss said feature and link to it. Please keep discussion in this thread to a minimum so it doesn't get cluttered and I can quickly parse through it.

So currently we have a lot of people struggle to setup PBEM/PBF games for things like tournaments. @prastle brought up some good questions around why can't we make it easier to get started and have TripleA do more of the work. This is especially true now that both this forum and A&A uses the same technology/API.

So the first suggestion is could TripleA start the PBF thread for the user rather than the user having to go create the thread and copy the thread ID into TripleA? Instead they choose to start a new PBF game, select which forum, and input a title. I assume the forum API has a thread creation method and if so I'd think this should be pretty easy.

@RoiEX Any thoughts here? I know you originally wrote the new PBF code for this forum and I essentially extended it for the A&A forum.

There are some other ideas then that extend this concept if we get it to work for PBF. An example is we could create a 'ranked' or 'recorded' field for lobby games that then creates a forum thread to post their games to.

@KurtGodel7 You could easily simulate increased production over time in TripleA in a variety of ways.

You could have triggers that actually just increase territory production values by a certain amount in certain rounds or even just give a certain flat amount to each nation. You could create a building system like in Civil War to simulate building up of industry/factories. You could decrease unit costs or have new units be more cost efficient.

Latest posts made by redrum

@trulpen To @Cernel's point, we would first need to clearly define what you are referring to as "structure" for all types of maps. Is it that they are immobile? Is it that they don't have hit points? Is it they don't have any combat value? Or some combination of these things?

@mattbarnes Yeah, I would recommend setting AI-China and AI-Sinopact to Hard AI. The other neutral players probably just set to Does Nothing AI (but doesn't really matter since they don't have any phases so won't do anything no matter what).

Trucks are just used for cheap, high movement fodder units and don't have isLandTransport currently.

I know one thing that has come up a lot over the years is trying to allow better display along the top when you have more than 6 dice sides or use unit images that are a bit larger. It would be good to show some examples of maps with say 10 or 12 sided dice as well.

@RogerCooper I believe the limitation during WW2 was more related to how many trains they could run (essentially capacity to move how many divisions around and supplies for all the frontline troops) not the rails themselves as repairing or even in some cases converting the gauge of rails was done pretty quickly.

@Gully Sorry, I got busy. I meant to reply back that I forgot that USA planes could land in Russia now. I'd actually like to have no scrambles and just let the fleet die with OOL:
transports
destroyer
1 hit BB
carrier
cruisers
BB